


Some Good Ol' Fashioned Cradling

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Keith needs a hug, Lance deserved better, M/M, Season 2, Season 2 spoilers, so I made it happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 17:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9453170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It's Keith's turn for some good ol' fashioned cradling.





	

"What happened—Keith?" Lance burst through the hangar doors in a flurry of motion but drew up short as he saw Shiro hauling a very unconscious, very bruised Keith out of the red lion.

"He's had a bit of an ordeal," Shiro coughed, exhausted himself. Lance jumped to grab him before Shiro sent both of them toppling to the ground.

Lance took Keith from him, his teammate's heavy limbs crushing him under their weight, but Lance pretended it was nothing for Shiro's sake. "I've got him. Off to the healing pod, right?"

"Yes," Shiro sighed, "I have to go brief Allura on what just happened. Are you alright with taking him?"

"He's in safe hands, Shiro," Lance hastily promised. Maybe he couldn't go help on the mission itself, maybe he messed up earlier when he argued whether or not his hothead teammate should be the one to go, but Lance would never fail at this.

Shiro smiled, his eyes sad, "Thanks, Lance. I'm sorry about earlier... I feel like I made the right decision in bringing Keith, but you were right too—there were definitely risks in that decision and I should've listened to you."

Lance felt tears well up in his eyes, his fake cheery smile dropping from his cheeks out of shock. "No way. What happened down there...?"

"Later, Lance. Later. Get Keith to a healing pod for now, please," Shiro clapped a hand on his shoulder, almost tipping him over, and Lance readjusted his hold on Keith.

As he watched Shiro walk away, Lance tried to steady his breath. He had a task to do.

He heaved Keith up into his arms, bridal-style, and started walking. His feet moved on autopilot, leaving his brain to fully memorize the teammate in his arms.

Keith was coated in bruises, burns, and cuts, bleeding sluggishly as his eyelids fluttered in an uneasy rest. His pale pink cupid's bow mouth huffed out unsteady breaths, wheezing sometimes when Lance's steps jostled him. On Keith's shoulder his armor had been destroyed and his skin blackened underneath, and that was a scar that would not heal pretty at all.

Lance breathed out, tears threatening to spill out on his cheeks. "I knew if you went, you'd get yourself hurt. Why can't you ever keep a cool head?"

Keith huffed a laugh, and Lance almost dropped him out of shock. Keith's eyes peeked open, his dark long eyelashes shading his gaze as he mumbled, "'s what I need you for."

Lance buried his nose in Keith's soft thick hair, his heart pounding.

"You fucked up, asshole," Lance gritted his teeth, "You weren't supposed to go and get yourself wrecked!"

"I didn't exactly plan on this," He replied, his voice creaky.

"Why didn't Shiro listen to me? Why didn't he take me?" Lance grumbled, "Better me getting my ass kicked than you."

"It's my turn in the pod," Keith mumbled, but there was no real combativeness in it.

Lance held him closer, tighter as he walked, "What happened? Shiro didn't tell me shit."

"Nothing important."

"Bullshit."

"It's true. They allied with us in the end. Nothing else happened."

"Clearly you getting the living shit beaten out of you isn't important."

"...I'm Galra, so yeah, that's not important," Keith whispered.

Lance's heart stopped. "You're what...?"

"Galra."

He had a lot of questions, but he also knew what was important here. And what was important here had nothing to do with how many questions Lance wanted to ask. What was important was just to comfort and protect. Because finding out that you're something you hate is never easy, and Lance knew the pain of being an outsider way, way too well.

Lance laughed as his tears seeped into the curtain of black. "No way. Someone in your family was a fucking furry?"

"Shut up, ass," Keith broke into a surprised smile as he pushed at his chest.

Lance finally shouldered them into the med bay, placing Keith tentatively into cryopod. "Here you go. Ready for a long nap?"

"...no," Keith admitted, crossing his arms as he shuddered and almost collapsed again.

"Come on," Lance teased, "I can personally affirm that there's nothing to be scared of."

"There kind of is," Keith said, leaning heavily on Lance's chest.

"What's wrong?"

"...what is everyone else going to think?" Keith whispered.

"Nothing, because our opinions of you won't change," Lance pressed a featherlight kiss to Keith's hair, a move he'd usually think was way way too forward, but it felt right. "You're part of the team. Galra or not."

Keith smiled tentatively, a small thing, fragile. "Thank you. I... I think I'm ready."

Lance nodded. He set Keith upright, before he hit the sealing button and watched the pod seal and freeze, Keith's body falling still and slowly starting to heal.

"Goodnight," Lance whispered, his hand lingering on the glass.


End file.
